Dragons in Packer bid

ST Ge­orge Illawarra has made a des­per­ate last­ditch bid to have ex­iled prop Rus­sell Packer cleared to play in the NRL for the re­main­der of the sea­son.

The Dragons lodged a signed con­tract from Packer with the league just be­fore the June 30 reg­is­tra­tion dead­line and re­main hope­ful the NRL will soften its stance on a pos­si­ble NRL come­back date.

Packer, who was re­leased from jail last Jan­uary af­ter serv­ing 12 months for as­sault, has been play­ing for the Dragons feeder team Illawarra Cut­ters in the NSW Cup since early May.

While he was given the green light to play in the sec­ond tier com­pe­ti­tion, the NRL in­di­cated it would be 2016 be­fore the gov­ern­ing body con­sid­ered an ap­pli­ca­tion for a re­turn to the NRL.